Final results show Livni's Kadima won by a single seat

Official results of the Israeli general election have confirmed that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's governing Kadima party defeated right-of-centre Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud by the narrowest of margins.

REUTERS - Final results of Israel's parliamentary election confirmed on Thursday that the centrist party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the contest by a single seat over right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud.

Former premier Netanyahu was unlikely to drop the claim he has made since Tuesday's vote that he, not Livni, should nonetheless be given a chance to form a coalition government, because parliament has a broad right-wing majority.

The final result, however, dashed his hopes that the late counting on Thursday of votes from soldiers could swing the result his way.

In the end, the Israel Elections Committee confirmed that Livni's Kadima party took 28 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while Likud secured 27 seats.

Attention is now on President Shimon Peres who has nearly two weeks to decide which parliamentarian to ask to form a government.

By tradition, it has been the leader of the biggest party in parliament.

But the results showed that parties to the right of Kadima have a slight majority.